Only Half-Bad
by ariasune
Summary: He is - he reflects - only half bad.


"You don't seem so bad,"

The remark catches him off-guard, and he feels his response well up in his mouth. He can feel the tart flavour of the words long before he replies. The catching taste of them. The bite. He keeps the reply awhile longer, locked between his teeth.

"Perhaps," He says instead.

He thinks, perhaps, he has one over on this child, and that of the two of them, he cuts deeper, and better, and- oh he smiles then.

"I think you're in love with the idea of being a villain," The boy's nose wrinkles, "It's not very attractive."

Fuck this brat; he is dark magic and humming vengeance. Last week he set a man on fire with those naive hands. He is a King amongst Shadows. A Wolf amongst Sheep. A labyrinthian leviathan, squirming in the deep of this boy's blood, swimming in his arteries, coiled in the chambers of his heart, ready to spring out and break bones between his teeth.

"Whatever you say," He says curtly, flicks a disdainful glance over his host. He will not argue with this youngster. He is aeons old, and steeped in black magic, so he knows better than some half-grown mortal whelp. He is a God amongst Men.

"At least think about it," His host chides and slips away, leaving him alone in the dark.

It seems cooler than before, sluggish and tedious to the touch. So when he next takes a penalty game, the spite in his mouth decides the shape of the punishment. The shadows wring the loser's soul. Oh he smiles then.

* * *

"I am a vengeful spirit, who can possess your body at a moment's notice," He declares, mood flickering in the low light of the soaking darkness. It fills and drowns his pores, saturates his spirit, "If I wanted," He states with a graceful purr, "I could choke your grandfather in his sleep."

"Yes, but you don't."

"Don't be insolent," He bares his teeth, smiles tightly, "Maybe I will do it now?" Displays his shadows in a feral grin, "I never had cause before, but it'd be worth it to punish you."

"And again?" - That does not begin to make sense.

He says as such, "What are you prattling about?" He curls in his fingertips into the crevices of his host. Tries to divine intent, and truth with brute force.

"You're not vengeful," The child answers, "You're really bad at lying," A laugh, piquant expression, "Even to yourself, I think."

"I seek and take victims to my shadows."

"And?"

He snorts, "Seems pretty vengeful to me."

The laughter that haunts him when he says that is bright and knowing. He glares, eyes bloody and third eye of mana flashing furiously. He leans in to grind the child's laugh into dust, when the brat explains-

"You've never really been vengeful in your life, huh?"

"I am dead," He growls, "This is my-"

"Spirit," The boy interrupts with a kindness that cuts him off, "Vengeance requires an exchange."

He sheathes himself in the veins, sulks in the gold, returns only to dispense dark games. Always there is that knowing expression in his host, and he hisses in displeasure at it.

* * *

"Explain vengeance, then," He drags the boy into his soul room, tosses him to a corner, and bats the hungry shadows away. Waits, crosses his arms over his chest and taps his foot.

"Do I really bother you that much?" The child looks up at him from the floor. Looks so proud of himself.

"How am I not vengeful?"

The boy is still smiling at him in fascination, and he deliberately rolls his eyes. Genuflects with a wave of his hand, and waits, unsnarling for a response.

"Vengeance is an eye for both, a tooth for a jaw, a blow for a knife in the back, the death of one for genocide," The boy gets to his feet, "You punish people; it's different."

"So my actions do not seem personal to you?" The shadows crawl, groaning under the weight of his dislike and disagreement, "You think I am not invested in the blood I spill?"

"No, not that," Still that gentle smile, "On the contrary, it matters a lot to you."

"Then why," He seethes, "Pray tell am I not vengeful enough for your standards?"

He thinks at first this infant may not respond to him, but the child is merely weighing up his words. Letting them well hot and thoughtful in his mouth, "You're too principled," That catches him off-guard, and fills his throat with toothy words, "You mete out punishment - always a tooth for a tooth."

"I tortured a man for an insult," Just yesterday even. He feels the uncontrollable need to point this glaring fault out, though the boy is clearly simple.

"It was fair to you," A shrug. Just that simple.

"I play fair then?" He spat, "That is your argument?" It is ridiculous to the point of painful and he wants to twist this young creature into knots, "That is why I am not dark enough for your tastes, host?"

"Yuugi."

"Mh?" He arches a feline brow.

"My name is Yuugi," The boy looks about the soul room, humming in thought, "You like to see yourself as bad, I guess it makes it easier to accept you're not playing fair."

"You just said-"

"I said it was fair to you," Yuugi sounds curt now, eyes boring into him, patience worn through, "We both know it's not."

"I am-"

"You want to be the bad guy," He feels tongueless, wordless, "Because you're not strong enough to be what you really want." The words return, fevered and fury-fledged.

"And what," Such insult, "Do I really," The boy would pay surely, "Want," Dearly, "Host?"

Utterly.

"To set the world right," Yuugi tips his head, "My name is Yuugi," The host sounds almost annoyed.

He narrows his eyes, shoves Yuugi out of the soul room, and slams the door shut after him. Huffs furiously through the shadows.

* * *

"No, less."

He looks up from the quivering victim, searching his head for Yuugi. The boy is watching, speculatively from the side, legs crossed and head cupped in his hands.

"Less?"

"The punishment isn't fair," Yuugi nods, "Less."

He uncoils a few tendrils of magic, feels the darkness abate by inches. Twists to look at Yuugi questioningly.

"Mh," Yuugi nods again, "Fair."

* * *

"What makes you think I want to be just?" He asks later, slowly, words dripping into his open jaws.

"Don't you?" Yuugi laughs, again, how he loathes that laugh. It knows things and teases him. He hates being taunted.

"I want revenge," He reminds it, almost petulantly.

Yuugi shrugs, "For what?"

"I-" There is that hollow dark at hand, but nothing else, never anything else, "I don't remember."

"Well, how do you know then?" A long silence as the words run dry, "Spirit," He listens now, "You want the world to be right - you want destiny to be even," Maybe, "You don't think the Gods are playing fair, so you fix it."

He is a God amongst Men.

"I want revenge."

"No," Yuugi insists, smiling through the laughing shadows, "You wish you did."


End file.
